Boeing 737 Engine Loss May Have Been Caused by UFO

On Saturday, August 27, 2016, Southwest Airlines Flight 3472 – traveling from New Orleans to Orlando – encountered a serious problem. One ot the two engines on the reliable Boeing 737 aircraft exploded in midair, causing the plane to shake uncontrollably. While panicked passengers put on their breathing masks, one passenger looked out the window and later gave this report to local news:

It was just a big explosion. There was some smoke and then nothing. I saw parts flapping in the wind.

View of the engine damage from the window

Flight 3472 was quickly diverted to Pensacola, Florida, where it made an emergency landing. No injuries were reported by the 99 passengers or 5 crew members on board. The only strange things noted were by one passenger who saw lights in the distance outside his window moments before the crash and tweets by others who claimed every watch worn by passengers was inexplicably off by four minutes from New Orleans time. Wait, what?

Today, the Captain of Flight #3472 from New Orleans to Orlando made the decision to divert to Pensacola due to a mechanical issue with the number one engine. The flight landed safely without incident at Pensacola International Airport at 9:40 a.m. central time. Initial reports indicate there were no injuries among the 99 passengers and five crew members onboard. We have notified the NTSB, and when authorized, we will be inspecting the aircraft to assess the damage. The aircraft is out of service, and we will work to accommodate the passengers to Orlando or their final destination as soon as possible.

Additional damage to the left side of the plane

That’s the official report from Southwest Airlines on the explosion and aftermath on Flight 3472. The FAA called it a mechanical issue and the NTCB referred to it as an “uncontained engine failure”. Those are the versions reiterated by most major media outlets. Except one.

Stan Greene from the Santa Monica Observer described the accounts of the mysterious lights and the more mysterious loss of time in his report in the latest edition of the paper.

At least one passenger tweeted about an unexplained light or lights he saw moving in the distance, from the 737, just before the incident began. Some of the passengers onboard Flight 3472 report missing time. They reported on twitter that every watch on the plane was off New Orleans time by 4 minutes.

He also reports that Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz said that, contrary to passenger reports, there was no explosion.

Whoa.

Strange nearby lights, lost time on clocks, conflicting reports indicating a possible cover-up … all are classic indications of a possible UFO encounter that may have caused the engine failure.

Except … there don’t seem to be any other accounts from passengers, crew, ground witnesses or others of the lights or time loss, including copies of the tweets. Is this part of the cover-up? Greene doesn’t list any names or sources. And he makes this comment:

It is undeniable that Flight 3472 was on it’s way to the Bermuda Triangle, the site of many unexplained occurrences.

Undeniable? The plane was heading to Orlando and would have landed long before getting close to the Bermuda Triangle.

Mysterious? Yes. Signs of a UFO encounter cover-up? Possibly. Military or alien? Could be either. Undeniable? Not by a long shot … yet.

Paul Seaburn Paul Seaburn is one of the most prolific writers at Mysterious Universe. He’s written for TV shows such as "The Tonight Show", "Politically Incorrect" and an award-winning children’s program. He's been published in “The New York Times" and "Huffington Post” and has co-authored numerous collections of trivia, puzzles and humor. Paul likes to add a bit of humor to each MU post he crafts. After all, the mysterious doesn't always have to be serious.